


last night

by yououui



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cloud is an affectionate drunk, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yououui/pseuds/yououui
Summary: Cloud is an affectionate drunk and has trouble hiding his feelings.Cloud, however, looks like he can barely stand. He’s leaning heavily against the bar, looking up at Aerith. “Aerith,” Cloud says in a slurred, sloppy voice. It just makes Aerith smile. “Y-Y’know I love you?”
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 19
Kudos: 224
Collections: Umbrella & Nailbat | Recs, clerith fanfics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Sky's headcanon posted on twitter, that Cloud is an affectionate drunk that can't help but fawn over Aerith.
> 
> Bonus ending in the second chapter!
> 
> No spoilers, just a fun AU.

Cloud groans when he blinks his eyes open. The sun is far too bright and his head is splitting and he’s mildly nauseous. He looks around blearily—he’s in his room, on his bed. He’s splayed out on top of the covers, still in his clothes from last night. He reaches blindly for his phone in the hopes of figuring out what the hell happened last night, his hand knocking into a glass of water he didn’t remember putting there, but it’s not on his bedside table as it usually is. He pats himself down and finds it still in his pocket, its battery completely drained.

After quickly plugging it in, Cloud is met with a wall of notifications and dread pools in his gut, mixing with the nausea in a sickening kind of way. He opens Yuffie’s text first, the last one he received.

_so~ have fun last night? ;)_

Cloud frowns. He can’t even remember last night. He opens the next message, from Jessie. The first text is a picture, a selfie she took of the two of them. It’s a little blurry, probably from her drunk hands, but it’s cute enough. She’s grinning in her usual way and Cloud is… not frowning, at least.

_Im not gonna forgive u for doing shots wo me btw_

Cloud pauses to think. He vaguely remembers standing at the bar with Barret, throwing back more drinks then probably either of them could handle. Oh yeah… They had challenged each other to a drinking competition. Cloud figures that he must have lost.

He opens the next message down, from Tifa.

_Dude._

That’s all it says, followed by three skull emojis.

Cloud frowns and texts her back a series of question marks. If anyone will tell him what happened last night without bullshitting him, it’s Tifa. It takes a couple of minutes, but eventually his phone buzzes with a notification and he opens her text. She sent a video, and despite his fear of what he’ll see, he presses play.

It starts a little shaky and he can’t tell what he’s supposed to be looking at. He can hear someone giggling behind the camera—he thinks it’s Yuffie—and Tifa shushing her. The camera eventually focuses on its intended target: himself and Aerith, standing together at the bar. Aerith is standing straight and graceful, her forearm resting along the bar and her hand clasped loosely around a glass. Her jacket is gone, exposing her thin dress straps and narrow shoulders, and her cheeks are a little flushed from the alcohol, but she looks as poised as ever.

Cloud, however, looks like he can barely stand. He’s leaning heavily against the bar, looking up at Aerith. “Aerith,” The Cloud in the video says in a slurred, sloppy voice. It just makes Aerith smile. “Y-Y’know I love you?”

Cloud sits up in his bed so quickly his vision goes black for a moment as a wave of dizziness and nausea hits him. He groans and puts a hand over his mouth, trying to push it down, and returns to the video. He can throw up after he sees what he did—it’s probably so bad, it’ll make him sick anyway. He rewinds it to his slurred confession and holds his breath.

Yuffie is trying to muffle her laughter in the background. Aerith smiles at him, sweet like candy, and nods. “I know you do, Cloud,” She tells him.

Cloud shakes his head like a petulant child. “No, y’don’t under— _hic_ —understand,” He tells her. He slaps a hand to his chest and looks at her with a drunken look of determination. “I lo— _hic_ —I _love_ you.”

Aerith covers Cloud’s hand, the one that’s grasping onto the bar, and nods. “I know, Cloud,” She tells him again. 

Cloud’s eyes widen and his lips part and he looks up at Aerith like a cat seeing a Christmas tree for the first time, like a child seeing a rainbow, like someone that’s just found the gates of heaven. Even through the camera, the awe and adoration Cloud has for Aerith is clear through his heart-eyes. “Y-You do?” He asks, his voice now light and airy.

Aerith laughs quietly and nods. “Of course I do,” She says, her eyes kind and gentle as she looks back at him.

And then, Cloud watches the phone in horror as his drunk self steps towards Aerith with his arms held out. He almost closes the video, too afraid to see what he did, but he braves it and continues. He watches as his past self steps up to Aerith and simply… Wraps his arms around her in a hug.

His arms slip around Aerith’s middle, his cheek rests flat against her chest, and he sighs and shuts his eyes like it’s the most comfortable thing in the world. Aerith laughs lightly and wraps one arm around Cloud’s shoulders, rests the other on top of his head to stroke his hair. She says something the camera can't pick up and Cloud murmurs a reply also unheard, and Aerith nods at him. He squeezes her harder.

Aerith blinks and raises her eyes right to the camera. She smiles sheepishly, and then there’s a moment of chaos as Tifa and Yuffie, now caught, scramble to cut the video. 

Cloud stares at his phone in shock, sitting so long that his phone eventually automatically locks. He stares at himself in the reflection of the black screen, haggard and hungover and embarrassed and fucking _terrified._

He unlocks his phone and texts Tifa as quickly as he can.

_**Wtf did i do?** _

_lmao_ is all Tifa replies, followed by a series of images.

They’re all of Cloud hugging Aerith. By the looks of it, he didn’t let her go the entire night. There’s a photo of them seated at the bar, another of them at a table where Aerith is talking to Jessie, another of them in a booth surrounded by the others. In every single photo, Cloud is in the same position, arms wrapped around Aerith and his head resting on her shoulder or chest, and her arms are wrapped around him as well as she speaks to the others. He almost looks like he’s sleeping, seemingly completely unaware of the others around them. In the photos where his face is a bit more visible, he’s just… smiling.

Cloud’s face burns hot and a new wave of nausea hits him. This time, he has to drop his phone and bolt to the bathroom. After puking his guts out and brushing his teeth, he returns to his bed. He notices then the glass of water he bumped into before and two painkillers sat beside it. He takes the pills and gulps the water, then collapses on his bed, too weak to sit up, and picks his phone up to hold close to his nose, staring at the pictures again. He looks so happy and content in the photos. Not surprising, since holding Aerith in his arms is really all he’s ever wanted. But not after he drunkenly confessed his love to her.

 _ **That’s all i did?**_ Cloud texts Tifa.

 _Lol yeah, don’t worry,_ Tifa replies to him. _Well, sometimes you’d mumble about how much you ~love her~ but I think at that point no one was very surprised._

“Oh my god,” Cloud groans as he runs a hand down his face.

 _But you refused to let her go,_ Tifa sends in another text. _She had to be the one to take you home since you wouldn’t stop hugging her to get in the cab._

Fear shoots through Cloud like lightning. He gulps and looks at his bedroom door. Is Aerith… Here? Sleeping on his couch or something? He looks over at his bedside table, where the water and painkillers had been set out for him. No way did _he_ do that, so then…

He goes back to his list of unread messages. There’s a ton clogging up his messages, some of them from people that were obviously still drunk when they sent them, but there, hidden at the bottom, is Aerith’s name. Cloud’s finger shakes as it hovers over text, but finally he opens her message, sent sometime around four o'clock in the morning.

_Just got back to my place~ Make sure you take the medicine I left for you mister! And call me if you need help, okay? I can bring some awesome hangover food!_

She ends the text with a pink heart that Cloud is left staring at for over five minutes. His heart bangs in his chest as he reads and rereads her message. He chews his lower lip and resists the urge to crawl under his covers and never face the world again. What he wants is to disappear from the face of the earth, but he knows that he needs to text her. Even without the confession, she was stuck taking care of him all night. That at least deserves an apology.

It takes Cloud ten minutes and twenty attempts to write out a text back to her.

_**Just woke up. Thanks for helping me get back and leaving the water, I think it saved my life.** _

Cloud’s thumbs shake as he writes out a second, separate text.

_**And sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that.** _

Cloud hits send before he can talk himself out of it and then drops his phone face down on the bed. He leaves it there when he stands and quickly changes into some better lounging clothes, then walks out to the kitchen to get some more water. He chugs a glass full, starts a pot of coffee, downs another glass. He leans on his elbows against the counter and watches the coffee drip slowly into the pot, questioning every life decision he’s ever made.

He’s loved Aerith since the moment he saw her. Well, maybe _love_ isn't quite the right word since he didn’t even know her at the time. But he _wanted_ to know her. He wanted to hear every story she had to tell, learn every one of her quirky habits and fun hobbies. He wanted to be her best friend and more and lucky for him, Aerith seemed to like him too for some reason and the two of them did become good friends.

But that was it. Cloud had always been too afraid to confess his true feelings to her. What if he did and it ruined their friendship? He would rather have her close as a friend then lose her completely, and now because of one stupid night, he might just have to face his biggest fear. He feels sick again, but not from the alcohol this time.

Cloud sighs when the coffee is done and pours himself a cup. He avoids his phone a little longer, instead choosing to plop himself on his couch and watch some TV, but he keeps feeling an itch, a pull to go grab his phone and see just how she chose to reject him. He lets himself finish his coffee, then reluctantly heads back to the room and unplugs his phone. He doesn’t look at it at first, instead heads back out to the living room and pours himself a second cup of coffee.

He sits on his couch and then, finally, looks at his phone. There it is, a text from Aerith sent five minutes ago. With a lump in his throat, Cloud opens the message.

_Why are you apologizing, silly goose?_

Cloud can’t help but smile a bit at that. Her favorite nickname for him, the same thing his mom used to call him. He never told Aerith that her pet name for him was the same as his mother’s, she had just said it randomly one day and it stuck. It only made Cloud love her more.

Cloud swallows and types out a response without thinking. 

_**You had to drag me all the way home. And… what i said too. I’m sorry, i shouldn’t have said all that stuff. I was just super drunk and acting like an idiot, id idn’t even know what i was saying and** _

Cloud stops and shakes his head, his fingers moving quicker than his brain can keep up with. He needs to think about what he’s going to say and write a proper, polite response. One that acknowledges what happened but ensures their friendship will stay intact. He goes to delete the text and rewrite it, but then… something happens. He’s not sure if his thumb slipped or if the screen glitched, but somehow, the send button gets pressed.

_**You had to drag me all the way home. And… what i said too. I’m sorry, i shouldn’t have said all that stuff. I** _

Cloud stares at the text he accidentally sent in horror. He drops the phone like it burned him and watches as the screen locks. “Oh my god,” He murmurs to himself. “Fuck. _Fuck._ Oh my god.”

He stands, too worked up to stay seated, and runs his hands through his hair. He slaps the side of his head, his eyes pinched shut in frustration. Then, he rushes back to pick up his phone to send a follow up. 

_**Sorry, pressed send too early,**_ He starts to type. _**I meant to say—**_

A call interrupts him. A call from Aerith.

Her name and a selfie she took of the two of them flashes on Cloud’s screen like a taunt. He gulps and presses the answer button.

“Uh… Hi,” He says slowly.

“Heya!” Aerith says on the other end, chipper as always. “Mind if I come over?”

Cloud blinks. “H-Huh?”

“I wanna binge on some hangover food but it’s depressing to do it alone,” Aerith tells him with a laugh. “So, burgers or tacos?”

“Uh, Aeri—”

“What am I thinking? Burgers _and_ tacos, of course!” Aerith continues. “I’ll be there in thirty!”

She hangs up. It takes Cloud a couple of minutes to even lower the phone from his ear. She’s coming over. She’s coming over to reject him in person. Of course she is, Aerith would never be the kind of person to tell someone she only wants to be friends over a text. And being as kind as she is, of course she’d say she wants to be friends, but Cloud knew how this worked. He knew it would end with the two of them being painfully awkward around each other until they never saw each other again.

Cloud looks around his apartment and then down at himself. Scrambling and panicking, he showers in five minutes to wash the scent of last night away and changes into jeans and a casual but nice looking sweater, makes his bed, cleans up some clutter around the living room. He doesn’t know why he’s freaking out now—Aerith has seen his apartment in disarray more times then he could count, but this is _different._

Maybe, he hopes vainly, she’ll just laugh it off. She won’t make a big deal out of it or view it as a real confession she either has to reject or accept. He needs to come up with an excuse to give in case she questions him. He meant… Like a sister! Or maybe because she reminds him of his mom? Wait, is that weird? The headache from before is returning as Cloud tries desperately to come up with a story.

Almost exactly thirty minutes later, she knocks at his door. Cloud takes a shaky breath and gives one last prayer to whoever is listening, and opens the door.

Aerith grins and holds up two fast food bags to him, soaked in grease. “I come bearing a cure,” She says with a laugh.

Cloud nods and steps out of the way for her. She toes off her shoes and walks over to his living room to put the bags down on the coffee table. Cloud goes to the kitchen first to grab them a couple of sodas while Aerith pulls food out, piles of tacos and fries and burgers.

“Geez, how many people did you think you were feeding?” Cloud asks as he walks over to her.

“Please, I know how much you eat, _especially_ when you’re hungover,” Aerith says with a wink. “And don’t worry. I could probably eat all of this single handedly.”

“Fair enough,” Cloud says with a shrug. They sit on the floor in front of the table and Aerith hands him a taco.

“How are you feeling?” She asks with a sympathetic smile.

 _Like I wanna jump out the window,_ Cloud wants to say, but he knows she’s asking about his hangover and not his emotional well-being. “I felt better once I threw up,” He admits. He unwraps the taco and the smell at first as him feeling nauseous again, but once he takes a bite, he automatically feels better. Aerith does always get the best hangover food.

“Ugh, that’s the _worst,_ ” Aerith says as she unwraps a burger. “But at least you’re not confined to your bed. Last time I got super drunk, I couldn’t get out of bed all day.”

Cloud nods. “Yeah, I remember.” He holds up the taco. “You made me bring you food.”

“Oh, yeah,” Aerith laughs. “Well, now I can return the favor!”

They fall into silence for a moment as they eat, but Cloud feels himself lose his appetite more and more. She’s acting like nothing happened, but Cloud can’t. He swallows and, not raising his eyes to her, says, “Aerith… About last night…”

“Oh, you’re not going to apologize again, are you?” She asks. “Come on, Cloud, how many times have you had to carry me home?”

Cloud shakes his head. “It’s… not that,” He tells her. His voice sounds pathetically weak. “What I said…”

Aerith tilts her head and blinks big eyes at him. “What about it?”

“I-I shouldn’t have—I was really drunk,” He stammers nervously. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean it, I was just—”

“You didn’t?”

It’s her tone, quiet and resigned, that makes Cloud blink and look up at her. She’s not smiling anymore, her brows pulled down in a frown, her eyes shimmering with disappointment. Cloud’s heart jumps to his throat and his mouth falls open as he looks at her. “I-I mean—” Cloud tries to say. “I was just—I wasn’t sure—”

“Cloud,” Aerith stops him with a hand over his. His eyes hone in on that single point of contact. Aerith regards him for a moment, and then smiles, no longer looking discouraged but amused. “...Don’t you remember what _I_ said?”

“Uh…” Cloud’s face burns so hot he’s sure his cheeks are red. He swallows and shakes his head.

“Cloud,” Aerith says, and Cloud hates how much he loves hearing her say his name. “I told you last night that I love you, too.”

Cloud’s mind goes blank. “O-Oh…” He swallows and his gazes skirts away. “I-I know, as a friend, you don’t—”

“No, Cloud,” Aerith cuts him off. “You don’t understand. I _love_ you.”

Cloud’s mind shuts off fully as she repeats the words he told her last night. He lets out a sigh like his heart’s been stabbed and looks somewhere to the side, gasps without meaning to when her hand touches his cheek and pulls his gaze back to her. 

“It’s okay,” She says, her voice as soft as her smile. “If you didn’t mean it the same way I do—”

“I meant it!” Cloud says before she can continue, before she can misunderstand. She raises her brows at him and Cloud swallows. He feels like he can’t breathe from the way his heart is swelling in his chest. _She loves him back._ He repeats her confession again and again in his head and looks at her with lovesick eyes. “I-I mean it. The same way you do.”

Aerith nods and squeezes his hand. “Good,” She says quietly. Then, like all is normal and right with the world, she says, “Now eat your taco.”

Cloud blinks wide eyes and nods at her demand, takes a big bite just for her. He frowns in thought as he chews and looks at her again. “Last night… You said you knew,” Cloud says once he’s swallowed.

Aerith nods. “Yeah, that’s right,” She tells him. “I was just waiting for you to finally say something.”

“H-Huh?” Cloud looks at her in disbelief. “F-For how long? And why didn’t you say something first?”

Aerith leans into his side and grins up at him. “Because it was fun to watch you.”

Cloud looks down at her. “I—” He begins, but then he just sighs and shuts his eyes with a smile and shake of his head. 

He blinks his eyes open when he feels soft lips press against his cheek and he looks over at her. She’s unwrapping a taco for herself, but stops and looks at him when she notices him staring. “What?” She asks.

“N-Nothing, just—” Cloud swallows, then shoves the rest of his taco into his mouth to prevent himself from saying something stupid.

Aerith giggles behind her hand and nods. “If you say so,” She tells him.

Cloud swallows and then reaches for another taco. “Um… Then… Do you want to get dinner tomorrow night?” He asks, hoping he sounds casually cool and not desperately pining. “I’d offer tonight but… I don’t think I should go out.”

Aerith laughs again and nods. “I’d love that,” She says. “How about tonight we just eat this mountain of food and watch some movies? Oh, or play games?”

“Only if you’re prepared to lose,” Cloud says to her with a small smile.

“Okay for that, I’m going to beat you twice as hard,” Aerith tells him with determined, narrowed eyes.

Cloud laughs quietly and nods. “Fine then. It’s… A date.”

Aerith nods and leans against Cloud’s side again. “Yes. It is.”

Cloud smiles, the anxiety of the day washed away and replaced with happiness and love for the girl at his side. “By the way,” He says. “ _Never_ let me drink that much again.”

“But it’s so _fun!_ ” Aerith whines. “Besides, I’ll be there to take care of you!”

Cloud sighs and shakes his head. “Hoo boy.”

Aerith laughs by his side, and Cloud is pulled down to her lips in a kiss. His taco spills all over the floor but he can’t be bothered to care, not when Aerith is kissing him, not when they’re both sober but Aerith still _loves_ him.

They spend the rest of the evening lounging, eating, playing games and watching movies. And that night, when they’re both exhausted but unwilling to separate, Cloud gives Aerith some pajamas and they crawl into bed together to sleep cuddled close. Cloud holds Aerith in his arms, stays awake even long after she’s fallen asleep to live in the moment of finally having her the way he’s always wanted her.

For once, Cloud thinks, he doesn’t mind the aftermath of a drunken night out.


	2. last night (pt. 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based on this tweet:
> 
> Cloud: (slurred) would you wanna go out with me?  
> Aerith: (jokingly) But I already have a boyfriend.  
> Cloud: (begins to cry) oh, okay...  
> Aerith: you idiot, come here, it's okay

“Uh oh,” Jessie says. “The boys are at it again.”

Aerith turns to look at where she’s pointing. Cloud, Barret, and Biggs are gathered around a table that’s covered in empty shot glasses, yelling at each other over who drank the most.

“I _totally_ drank more,” Biggs says in a voice so slurred it’s almost incomprehensible.

“Nuh-uh!” Cloud argues. “I had four-veteen—wait.” He recounts the glasses in front of him quickly. “Fifteen shots!”

“I dun think so, Spiky!” Barret yells at him. “I’m the clear winne—!”

Barret then immediately stumbles away to bolt to the bathroom. “Aha!” Cloud raises his fists above his head and turns in celebration, though no one is paying them any attention. “I’m the winner!”

His eyes meet Aerith’s and his entire face brightens, a smile blooming on his face. He gestures to the shot glasses and Aerith laughs and gives him a thumbs up. Cloud walks over to her, swaying left and right and almost knocking into a table if not for Cid pushing him away. He eventually ends up in front of Aerith without breaking anything.

“H-Hey,” He says to her.

“Hey, Cloud,” Aerith says. Beside her, Jessie is trying to not burst out laughing.

Cloud’s eyes widen like he’s shocked she knows his name. He looks at her like a puppy, his mouth hanging open. “You’re real pretty,” He tells her in a completely lovestruck voice. He grabs Biggs’ arm as he walks by to stop him. “Isn’t she pretty?”

Biggs nods. “The prettiest.”

“Hey,” Cloud’s brows pinch together and he scowls, pushing Biggs away. “Only I’m allowed t’say that.”

Biggs rolls his eyes and walks away from them. Jessie’s lips are trapped between her teeth, trembling as she tries to hold her amusement in, her phone in her hand and pointed at Cloud. Aerith puts her hand on Cloud’s arm to pull his attention away from Biggs, and as soon as Cloud looks at her, the annoyance towards Biggs melts away.

“He’s right though,” Cloud says as he jabs his thumb over his shoulder towards Biggs. “Y-You’re the prettiest.”

Aerith shakes her head, snorting with laughter. “Thank you, Cloud.”

Cloud steps a little bit closer to Aerith, looking at her with those wide, bright and childlike eyes of his. “Uh… D’you maybe… Wanna go out with me?” He asks, slurred and drunk and completely adorable.

“Oh…” Aerith makes a show of giving him a sympathetic smile and jokingly says, “But I already have a boyfriend.”

Cloud’s lips press into a tight frown and his blue eyes immediately shimmer with tears. “O-Oh,” He says as his bottom lip trembles. “Okay…”

Aerith’s face breaks out in a grin and she pulls Cloud into her arms. “It’s okay, Cloud! I’m only teasing you, you silly goose!” She says through her laughter. She takes Cloud’s face in her hands to look into his wet eyes. “Did you forget that _you’re_ my boyfriend?”

Cloud blinks as the gears slowly turn in his head. “Oh yeah…” He smiles dopily at her. “So… Does that mean I can kiss you?”

Aerith laughs again. “Yes, it does.”

“Okay, good,” Cloud says, and then he kisses her sloppily.

“This is the best day of my life,” Jessie says as she wipes away her tears of laughter and looks down at her phone. “Hey everyone! Gather around, I have a great new Drunk Cloud video for you all!”

The entire bar hollers in excitement and everyone moves to gather around Jessie, but Cloud and Aerith stay together, stuck in their own (albeit drunk) little world.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! come scream about how much you love them with me
> 
> [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/yououuii)  
> [tumblr](https://yououui.tumblr.com)


End file.
